For any athlete particularly the younger ones, who have a long-term desire to reach the top of their game, the one thing they can be sure of is that it will be an up and down journey along the way. 

Hopefully, lots of highs as they progress but it is inevitable that there will be some lows too. 

In other words when a race performance does not go to plan or indeed when going through a difficult period in training. 

Watching and seeing how people react to any such difficult times can be a good guide to just how far they may go. 

Having worked for several years with boxers, when working out in the gym I saw what I thought were a couple of very talented young kids who had everything when it came to the so-called noble art ie all the moves whilst looking like pure naturals.  

However, and once in the ring when sparring, all these fancy moves were nullified when getting tagged with a couple of good shots from their opponents. Both these young lads disappeared from the sport. What with knowing their dads, I asked them why and was told on both occasions, that they didn’t like getting hit. 

When I mentioned this to a champion boxer who did reach the top of his game, his reply was: “That is just it. You can look the part all day long when on the pads, but when it comes to doing it day after day and dealing with what is the real nitty gritty, if you can’t take a punch on the nose then there is no way you will make it in this game.” 

Putting it bluntly, when the going gets tough, you either become stronger or walk away. 

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Last week I mentioned that Callum Bowen Jones was going to race in the Valencia Half Marathon that coming weekend. 

Now whilst I know what he is capable of, and so does he, you must also weigh things up and be realistic when going into such a race. Especially when it hasn’t been your main goal of the year. 

Cal thinks big and really does want to be the best he can be. Even after a race win or PB, he will unpick his performance and whilst he will look at the positives, he will also look at where he feels he could have done better. He is the same with his training too. 

Having spent March through to August with his training being geared to race 800m and 1500m where he not only won the Norfolk County titles over these distances in May, but he also improved his PBs for both events during the course of the season. This of course was also an extended period where the weekly mileage was heavily reduced and replaced with more specific speed work. 

As it happens, he also improved his personal best for 3,000 metres by a decent margin and whilst back in January and February he defended his County Cross Country title and then ran his fastest ever 5k in Armagh in 14:28, both these races were on the back of having had a winter of doing lots of endurance work. 

Talking to him the night before the half marathon, my advice was just to go to the start line with no pressure while also holding back and not getting carried away during the early miles. 

“Start at 5:10 pace and then once you are 5 to 6 miles in, see how you feel,” I said whilst going on to say, “hopefully you will be able to maintain and maybe even find something extra towards the finish.” 

Watching his progress online, everything was bang on with regards to pace with even splits through 5k, 10k and 15k. In fact, 10 miles was reached in a PB of 51 mins and 15 secs, but then the wheels came off finishing the 13.1 miles in 69:40. 

Needless to say, he was very disappointed and of course questioned himself afterwards. 

Friends and family all felt for him and told him that he still finished in a very good time, but all ambitious athletes will know what I mean when I say that whilst people really are well meaning with such words, deep down you know you are capable of much better and any such words of comfort end up feeling more like words of sympathy. 

Once the dust settles though and after a few days of rationalising, it is just a case of shrugging your shoulders and moving on with even more determination. 

Winners never lose their belief and will stay on the rollercoaster ride right to the very end. 

Have a great weekend wherever you may be running…